SAIDE (Services Aeriens Internationaux d'Egypte)
Operator Identification
February 1948 to December 1953
Egypt
TYPE: Airline
IATA/ICAO CODES: Nil
HEADQUARTERS: Cairo
OTHER NAME: Arabian American Airways
SUBSEQUENT NAME: MisrAir (merged 1952)
Operator History
SAIDE was founded in 1947 by an Egyptian businessman, and another businessman from Italy who was working for Fiat at the time. SAIDE had a double meaning: the acronym translated into "International Air Services of Egypt" in French, while the word meant "smile" in Arabic. The company brought together Cantieri Aeronavali SIAI-Marchetti and Misr Airwork, who wanted to develop and operate a passenger service between Egypt and other Mediterranean & Arabic countries. Shareholders were Fiat, with 45% of the shares, and the rest shared between the Egyptian Misr Bank and King Farouk's family.
SAIDE's fleet consisted of Italian planes, namely four-engined SIAI-Marchetti SM.95s and Fiat G.212 tri-motors. Operations started on 12 February 1948 with domestic flights to Alexandria, and international routes to Rome & Milan, Italy and Athens, Greece. Another route led to Tunis, Tunisia wih enroute stops in Benghazi & Tripoli, Libya. Charters for the Hadj were also flown each year, carrying pilgrims to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. In 1949, six Commandos sourced directly from USAF stocks were added to the fleet.
After King Farouk was deposed in July 1952, SAIDE was nationalized and merged into MisrAir in December. Services were reduced until operations ceased in April 1953. The airline was officially liquidated on 5 December 1953.
Commando Operations
1949* to September 1951*
SAIDE operated 6 Commandos, all taken from USAF surplus at Cairo Payne Field, Egypt.
Last edited: 12/01/2024